Take a close look at some old branding ideas. Very naïve, and what a hoot.
Susan says, “I want to stay at the Lakeview Hotel because it’s ‘always on the level’ and, of course, I want a chicken and steak dinner because they are a specialty. I wonder how these Lakeview levels were distributed. Perhaps they were they given away in hardware stores like wooden yardsticks? Surely they weren’t for sale in the hotel gift shop. How times have changed. Today an ad agency would laugh themselves sick at the low brow concepts the Lakeview adopted. On the level? You mean not listing to the side. Chicken and steak a specialty You don’t mean haut cuisine do you? More like gravy and biscuits I’d guess. Now I think I’m sounding like a snob when in fact, I find myself yearning for this simpler time. When a free yardstick could be a marketing tool. And a hotel could proudly proclaim itself to be ‘always on the level’ and never wondering how that might be misinterpreted. This packaging never saw a designer and the slogan was never tested before a focus group.”
Lucia says, “Logos live in a larger design context, so let’s take a look at the overall display. Maybe it was just happenstance, but there seems to have been attention given to color palette and layout. The arrangement of the various elements could have looked like a jumble. But they’re nicely laid out in clean lines and shapes, which are pleasing to the eye. The best part, for me, is the composition of the photo. The reflection in the glass makes things a little blurry to give you a sense of looking back through time, adding yet another layer to this display of antique tools.”
